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Jan 4, 2012: REFERRED TO CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

Jan 24, 2011: REFERRED TO CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

Memo

BILL NUMBER:S2522

TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the social services law and the executive law, in relation to the provision of criminal history background checks free of charge to mentoring programs operated by not-for-profit corporations

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: Section 1 of the bill amends Subdivision 4 of section 390-e of the social services law to provide that there shall be no processing fee for criminal background checks requested by not-for-profit mentoring programs.

Section 2 amends subdivision 8-a of section 837 of the executive law to provide that the Division of Criminal Justice Services shall not request or accept any fee for conducting criminal background checks for not-for-profit mentoring programs.

JUSTIFICATION: Youth mentoring programs provide a needed service in our communities. They match troubled or at risk youth with positive adult role models in long-term mentoring friendships for the purpose of guiding them through difficult life decisions and circumstances. However, not-far-profit mentoring programs have very limited resources and the cost of criminal background checks can be prohibitive. This bill would allow a not-far-profit mentoring program to avoid the fee associated with a background check, thus allowing the organization to dedicate its scarce resources to providing service to the community.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: 2010: S.8046 - Referred to Children and Families

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: Minimal.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect immediately.

Text

STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2522
2011-2012 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 24, 2011
___________

Introduced by Sens. JOHNSON, DeFRANCISCO, GOLDEN, LARKIN -- read twice
and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee
on Children and Families
AN ACT to amend the social services law and the executive law, in
relation to the provision of criminal history background checks free
of charge to mentoring programs operated by not-for-profit corpo-
rations
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Subdivision 4 of section 390-e of the social services law,
as added by chapter 459 of the laws of 2006, is amended to read as
follows:
4. Every mentoring program that chooses to apply for a criminal histo-
ry background check with the division of criminal justice services shall
obtain a set of fingerprints from each individual for whom a criminal
background check is to be completed and such other information as is
required by the office and the division of criminal justice services.
For each prospective employee or mentor for whom the mentoring program
completes a criminal background check, the mentoring program shall
provide the applicant with blank fingerprint cards and a description of
how the completed fingerprint card will be used upon submission to the
mentoring program. The mentoring program shall promptly transmit such
fingerprint card and the processing fee to the office; PROVIDED, HOWEV-
ER, IF THE MENTORING PROGRAM IS OPERATED BY A NOT-FOR-PROFIT CORPO-
RATION, NO PROCESSING FEE SHALL BE IMPOSED FOR A CRIMINAL BACKGROUND
CHECK. The office shall promptly submit the fingerprint card and the
processing fee, IF imposed pursuant to subdivision eight-a of section
eight hundred thirty-seven of the executive law, to the division of
criminal justice services for its full search and retain processing.
S 2. Subdivision 8-a of section 837 of the executive law, as amended
by chapter 561 of the laws of 2006, is amended to read as follows:

EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07257-01-1

S. 2522 2

8-a. Charge a fee when, pursuant to statute or the regulations of the
division, it conducts a search of its criminal history records and
returns a report thereon in connection with an application for employ-
ment or for a license or permit. The division shall adopt and may, from
time to time, amend a schedule of such fees which shall be in amounts
determined by the division to be reasonably related to the cost of
conducting such searches and returning reports thereon but, in no event,
shall any such fee exceed twenty-five dollars and an additional
surcharge of fifty dollars. The comptroller is hereby authorized to
deposit such fees into the general fund, provided, however, that the
monies received by the division of criminal justice services for payment
of the additional surcharge shall be deposited in equal amounts to the
general fund and to the fingerprint identification and technology
account. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the division shall not request
or accept any fee for searching its records and supplying a criminal
history report pursuant to section two hundred fifty-one-b of the gener-
al business law relating to participating in flight instruction at any
aeronautical facility, flight school or institution of higher learning,
OR PURSUANT TO SECTION THREE HUNDRED NINETY-E OF THE SOCIAL SERVICES LAW
WHEN THE DIVISION IS SUPPLYING A CRIMINAL HISTORY REPORT TO A MENTORING
PROGRAM OPERATED BY A NOT-FOR-PROFIT CORPORATION.
S 3. This act shall take effect immediately.

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